Spinner is such a great dog. David and Bonnie have the coolest pair of Boxers - with personallity to spare. I wish they could spare some for our dogs. David is my buddy that, over the years, has always forwarded interesting links. Really expanded my Internet experience by directing me to great sites. I’m looking forward to more posted links because it not only shares them but archives them. Interspersed with discussions of what’s going on. And stories of mother in an elevator with Johnny Cash.

That’s a great story, Mom.

John this post is for you: Spinner in his finest dog napping form. Here we see his eye shade strategy, utilizing materials at hand…or paw.

Well O.K. since you asked…… here’s my Johnny Cash Story. In 1990 my sister “Tricia” or “Aunt Pat” invited me to a seminar in Las Vegas. We stayed at the newly opened La Mirage. We went down at 5:30 A.M. to play the slot machines and have breakfast before going to the meetings, then played slots, then had lunch, then went back for more meetings and more slots. And that was just the very first day! You can imagine how tired we were so… we were going up to our rooms to rest before coming back down again when low and behold standing in the corridor waiting for the same elevator, big as life stands Johnny Cash with his arm slung around June Carter! He of course was in black, she had jeans tucked inside some knee high western boots with a pretty blouse and a big ole floppy hat. She came to about his waist it seemed. It was so special because Aunt Pat and I just loved them so and they were so cute together. But we didn’t stare or blurt anything out, we just kept poking each other and grinning. That is the only time we saw them but it was a great memory. They smiled and said “How are Ya’ll?”.

Kind of looks like Renee’s art style, doesn’t it. And Casey looked at the photo and said “What’s this, I draw designs like that!”. It’s a deep root thing.

My Grandmother created her own art style and a invented her own art medium, a secret formula, to raise textures up and create a 3-Dimensional form to paint color onto. You can’t see it from this photo, but the designs are raised like sculpture. It’s magic. She loved to do it on walls and doors and anything that would stand still long enough. It’s funny because people would question her about whether it would stick for very long. She would totally blow those questions off as representing a lack of faith and go back to work. She would be so pleased to know that this door was banged and slammed for 40 years and the images held perfectly. Or she knew it in advance. I don’t think she would mind it being disclosed now: some kind of glue was part of the chemistry of the mixture.

This was taken a couple of weeks ago. Any family members recognize the background? That is the house from 499 Edgewater, right next to the island on the Comal river. This little house and the island were major elements of WhippleWorld in the 60’s. Raymond was about Casey’s age when he bought it and I was his little sidekick when he was working on it. It was later sold and then gone one day so we assumed it had been torn down. Last month Raymond was talking to a friend about the place the guy was renting down in the Estates and he said there was a door that had some very cool art on it. As an afterthought the guy happened to mention it was signed “Peg” at the bottom. Raymond did one of those “What did you say” in disbelief deals. That’s my Grandmother so Raymond runs with him over there and it turns out that they moved the house onto another lot a couple of streets over and we had never known about it. We went over there and did some reminiscing.

Have you noticed that we still haven’t heard the story of Ann’s “closer encounter” with Johnny Cash? When can I get off the edge of my seat?

Jimmie and I went into Gruene the other night and saw a really magical show by Willis Allan Ramsey and his wife, Allison Rogers. Let’s remember to invite them because they say they’ll come swim with us at our next Blue Hole camping trip - they live right down from there. We’ve come to know them because a couple of years ago, they wanted to rent the “B” studio at Melody Ranch but just couldn’t handle moving to San Antonio. They are very cool, they have a 6 year old daughter and would fit right in.

It’s interesting to talk to him now because when Jimmie and I were 18-19, we went through a period where his album and Townes Van Zandt’s “Our Mother The Mountain” were the soundtracks to our lives. On 8-Track tape. Bumpin’ around town (Gruene) in Jimmie’s old brown 60’s Chevy pickup. I think we went at least a year where we heard his record a couple of times a day. It’s one of the records I most respect.

The Parade of Stars

for the birthday wishes! They are much appreciated. I didn’t get to see them until this morning (internet connection problems). Thanks!!!!

By the way, Deirdre, I agree about Robert Randolph. He was on Austin City Limits back at the beginning of this year sometime. His band was great! I have never quite heard steel played that way, but it’s very cool!

Tip #1: To search for a specific filetype (ie. .pdf, .jpg, etc.):

Enter “Filetype:pdf search term“

This is especially helpful if you want to find statistics or forms rather than articles and ads.
Ex: Filetype:pdf “pet owners” Texas

Tip #2: You can use Google as the search engine for sites that have sucky search engines!

Enter “Site:www.whatever.com search term

Ex: Site:www.census.gov Hispanic

This is especially helpful for those site that expect you to just intuitively know where they’ve filed information! If you go straight to the Census site, for example, they don’t have a search feature from the homepage. The hoops of bureaucracy continue into cyberspace . . .

I hope this is helpful and not Baby Google 101 for y’all.

Is Saturday. It’s hard to get him to come to a party so I think we’re going to take him out to dinner. Please pick up the phone and leave a Happy Birthday message for him Saturday during the day at 830-606-4045.

Some of you know him and some don’t. He does so much more for others than anybody ever does for him. He’s always sacrificing his time and money for family and friends. Like he knows some of us are going down to Rockport so he’s going down there to make sure the electricity stays on and to just prepare everything hoping that we all have a good time. He does his good deeds continuously and prefers to go without any recognition. It’s been that way my whole life. He is the architect of WhippleWorld.

hi I have found a super cool website it is atomfilms

I hope you like it.

goes to elgooG, the Google mirror link.

Chris Knight is at Gruene Hall tomorrow night.

Original Art by Charles Kaufman

Too much traffic at Google slowing down your web searches?

Try this Google mirror.

Thanks for the link, Jimmie.

This might actually make dusting fun!

check out Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

get ready to Shop!

and this site is another thing entirely. It’s a busblog.

especially for fans of Americana Music.

Okay - I’m last but not least - Happy Birthday Lynne!

Hoo-ray!
Happy B-Day to the Lynne-ster!

Happy Birthday Lynne!

…happy birthday to Lynne!

We ought to pick out our four largest and most road worthy land sharks and all cruise out in a caravan. It’s just a two and half hour drive. Those paintings may never get within 200 miles of us again. Like Mars - we need to look at ‘em. What do you propose? I want a plan.

Jimmie and I have both gone back several times to the Family Band website. That guy is the coolest thing I’ve heard in a long time. I love the video.

I just posted this ebay auction for the comic book store - check it out. This is a very rare piece that’s famous because Batman’s wearing a holster on the cover. This is one of the rarest of all comics, very early in the development of the Superhero. This cover was when they weren’t sure if heroes should be packing heat or not. For the most part, they decided after this that the good guys would have skills or powers and the bad guys would have guns. Just like in real life.

The Heroic Century: The Museum of Modern Art MasterpiecesMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston

I think Obretillo Academy November or December fieldtrip will be shaped around this event. I’ll keep you posted on a specific date - maybe we’ll make a pilgrimmage.

Has anyone else heard of Robert Randolph and the Family Band? My inner-Baptist just about leaped out of my skin when I saw the video this morning! It’s all I can do to keep from knee-walking! I gotta get the cd. . .